All year I always look forward to one thing in the summer time, and it isn’t a break from the constant cloud cover. There are few pleasures as great as a fresh, local, in season strawberry. They have, in fact, ruined strawberries for me the rest of the year. I mean I’ll still eat a few California strawberries here and there, but I can’t imagine bringing myself to shell out the big bucks for what tastes like strawberry flavored cardboard, not to mention the pesticide issues. Northwest strawberries are something special. Besides the obvious advantage of fruit that that is at the peak of season and picked fresh, the strawberries themselves are a little different. Large farm strawberries are, like most other fruit, raised to hold up in shipping above anything else, and as such tend to be a little crunchy. A strawberry should be soft, but not mushy, and explode with sweetness and flavor.

Here are a couple of my favorite classic strawberry recipes. Both can either be served with coconut whipped cream, Soyatoo, or vanilla ice cream (I used Soyatoo for both).

Strawberry Shortcake

(makes 6-8 shortcake biscuits)

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons Earth Balance
2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
3/4 cup vegan creamer plus more for brushing. (I used coconut creamer, but soy creamer or MimiCream would be fine)

2 pints strawberries
1/4-1/2 cup sugar
Soyatoo or coconut whipped cream

Heat oven 450° degrees.

Wash, core, and slice the strawberries. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with 1/4-1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sweet the berries are). Let sit in the fridge while you make the biscuits.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. With a pastry blender or two butter knives, cut in Earth Balance and shortening. Mix in creamer. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet (if you want you could roll them out and cut with a biscuit cutter, but I like the rustic look of drop biscuits). Brush with a little creamer and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown. Let cool. Split a biscuit in half, and place the bottom half on a plate. Top with cream and berries, the other half of the biscuit, then more cream and berries.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

1 lb sliced fresh strawberries
1 lb sliced rhubarb
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot
1 tsp vanilla

double pie crust (you can double the recipe here)
2 Tbsp Earth Balance cut into small pieces.

Heat oven to 400°.

Combine the filling ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir well to coat. Let sit in the fridge while you roll out the crust. Roll out the bottom pie crust and transfer to a 9” pie plate. Pour the filling into the crust and sprinkle with the chunks of Earth Balance. Roll out the top crust and place on top of the pie. Crimp edges together and press with fingers into a fluted pattern. Cut several slits in the top to vent and bake on a baking sheet (to catch any drips) for 40 min. (if the crust starts to become too brown during baking cover with a foil ring). Let cool for a few hours before cutting.